How to cope with recession

published 2001

How an organisation copes with recession depends very much on its culture and the industries it serves -whether it is publicly listed or private, a multi-national brand marketer or a local Australian brand marketer, an fmcg marketer or a b2b marketer. 

Not all of the following will apply to your situation, but some will:

1. Be selective about what budgets you trim. Distinguish between marketing communication that aims to create sales and communication that aims to create (and maintain) goodwill.  There may be good reasons to temporarily cut your ad budget but that doesn’t mean that you cut all communication.
   
   
2. Give higher priority to corporate communication at this time. Don’t let tactical decisions due to short-term circumstances cause a lack of confidence in the company overall.
   
   
3. If in doubt, over communicate.  At times like this perception can quickly become reality.  The worse thing you can do is go into your bunker. Silence breeds suspicion, discontent and speculation, both externally and internally.  Open up the lines of communication with your retailers, customers, investors and staff.  And keep them open. 
   
   
4. Be frank and open.  Your communication will be more believable if you treat your audiences like equals with their concerns and issues.  Don’t fall back into ‘corporate speak’.
   
   
5. Wherever possible give guidance and advice.  Don’t just talk about your issues. If you are communicating to the trade give them suggestions about how to still sell your products without the normal advertising support.  If you are in financial services give your clients some generalised advice as to how they should ride the waves. If you are in b2b, find ways in which you can reach your markets personally, maybe by holding seminars.
   
   
6. Put more effort into personal contact with those whose opinions are important in your marketplace and with your stakeholders.  If you are a publicly listed company talk to some key media as well as the analysts.  Give them an insight (within disclosure laws) of your situation.
   
7. Get your CEO and key people out of the office.  Whether it’s to customers, trade, media or shareholders depends on each individual company. But your CEO and others have to show leadership; if you are cutting back on promotion of products then the corporation has to be marketed.
   
   
8. Don’t just ride on the seat of your pants - develop a formal plan or program.  Decide who are your key audiences, what your key messages should be to each and how you can best deliver them.  Put this into a plan covering the next 6 months +.  Develop a budget (from the money you have saved in another area of the business).
   
   
9. Factor in your overseas principals.  It’s an ongoing problem for Australian units of multi-nationals (especially those US domiciled).  They can turn the tap off for reasons that are important to them but not necessarily relevant here.  Convincing them to let local management manage according to local needs can be a real challenge. They have to be part of the plan (and managed!).
   
   
10. Regard the next few months as one the most important periods to manage.  It’s not simply about slashing and burning.  Progressive companies and management realise that morale, confidence, perceptions and expectations all have to be maintained through until the better times.  PR/communications is the tool that’s the key to achieving it.

If you already have internal PR capability, the next few months is when it has to ‘earn its spurs’.  But often internal PR is only equipped for ‘normal’ conditions.  If that’s the circumstance then external resources should be bought in to complement and assist.

If you don’t have any PR capability then perhaps it’s time to hire an agency to develop plans and strategies to help you navigate the tricky waters of the next few months.

Finally see this period as an opportunity for building relationships and positions for the future.  If your company and its senior people are prepared to actively work with key media and others when they have nothing to ‘sell’, then you will build excellent goodwill which will be even more valuable when the good times return (as they will).